Is an MBA worth it? 6 benefits

Have you been considering a career change? In the past, the majority of people trained in a certain profession and then held a job for life. Now, switching employers has become the norm, says the World Economic Forum, with the average person now having at least 12 different jobs in their lifetime.

Completing 12 different degrees would be challenging and expensive, but there’s one degree that prepares graduates for many different careers: a Master of Business Administration (MBA).

An MBA with Victoria University (VU) Online offers flexibility and support as well as valuable skills in strategic management, ethics, financial analysis and organisational change. You can also forget about textbooks and exams—this postgraduate degree is built for employability, with learning by doing.

Beyond a career change, there are many things to consider when asking yourself whether an MBA is worth it. To fully answer that question, it’s important to know the potential benefits and your potential career trajectory if you undertake one.

Benefits of earning an MBA

The potential for a career change is just one of the many benefits of earning an MBA. Here are seven to consider.

1. Meet the demands of disruption

Thanks to the rapid acceleration of technology, the business landscape has transformed significantly in the past 20 years. For example, innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) for business practices like customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) have transformed customer service, data management and forecasting through chatbot integration and predictive analytics.

With the pace of change showing no signs of slowing down, an MBA equips you with a valuable holistic perspective, as well as the essential ability to identify and take advantage of new and emerging opportunities.

2. Rise to the challenge of a competitive employment market

An MBA can position you for success in an environment where top roles are hotly contested. It is a powerful signal to prospective employers that you have the essential strategic, analytical and financial skills required for effective leadership—regardless of industry—and the mindset to apply these skills to complex business challenges and settings.

 

3. Develop a highly flexible skill set

An agile and flexible skill set is essential for effective business leadership in the digital era. A program such as VU Online’s MBA offers deep insights into best practices in business, people and financial management practices, equipping you with a comprehensive skill set that can be adapted to virtually any industry or leadership role.

An MBA delivers enhanced business acumen through a focus on wide-ranging skills, such as financial analysis, marketing management, HR management and organisational change management.

4. Effectively oversee others

MBAs were originally designed to elevate those with specialised skills to general management positions. An MBA also remains true to this intent by providing the know-how to successfully lead people and organisations of all stripes.

By studying an MBA, you can learn leadership skills that can equip you to build teams and set organisational goals. You can also deepen your understanding of your leadership capacity and prepare for critical transformation or transition in complex situations.

5. Choose your own pathway

An MBA can be useful for students with a range of goals, whether they want to build a broad skill set or specialise. Many MBAs offer specialisations across a range of disciplines, so you can choose whether you wish to study a broad range of subjects with a general MBA or focus on a specific area with a specialised MBA.

Studying a generalist MBA can build core competencies across a broad array of areas. From strategic management to HR to managing innovation and entrepreneurship, students who study VU Online’s MBA focus on developing business and leadership competencies.

Keeping your MBA broad can be especially important if you want to keep your options open, or you are looking establish or run small businesses, where a solid grounding in a broad range of disciplines is incredibly crucial.

VU also offers two optional MBA specialisations: Finance and Change Management.

The Finance specialisation offers courses in corporate finance, entrepreneurship, analysis and consulting.

The Change Management specialisation features courses on agile project management, change and complexity, innovation and business policy.

Both of these specialisations can prepare graduates for success as management or finance leaders in various business contexts.

6. Change careers

One of the most important reasons to earn an MBA is the opportunity to change careers. VU Online’s MBA is an excellent program for career switchers. With two optional specialisations in Finance and Change Management, students can hone their skills in these specific disciplines.

Possible career outcomes for MBA graduates with a Change Management specialisation include:

• Consultant
• Senior manager
• Change management consultant
• Human resources manager
• Project manager
• Coach or trainer
• Operations and logistics manager

Career opportunities for finance MBA graduates with a Finance specialisation include:

• Financial manager
• Senior managing consultant
• Financial director
• Head of finance
• Director of business development
• Chief executive officer

The Graduate Certificate in Business Administration: An alternative path to success

If you want to work up to an MBA, consider the Graduate Certificate in Business Administration.

Choosing this degree can be a great option for students who don’t have a bachelor’s degree and need an alternative pathway to the MBA program. You may also choose this degree if you don’t want to do the entire MBA, but want to gain a graduate certificate qualification in as little as eight months and have an array of new transferable skills.

The Graduate Certificate in Business Administration comprises the first four units of an MBA. On completing the Graduate Certificate, you may be eligible to continue your study to an MBA with credits for the following four units:

• Marketing Management
• Strategic Management and Business Policy
• Business Ethics and Sustainability
• Financial Analysis

Benefits of a business administration education at VU Online

Whether you choose an MBA or a Graduate Certificate in Business Administration, these features of the VU Online experience will help you achieve your career goals.

The support you need to succeed

Mitch Wallis, a retired Western Bulldogs footballer who’s undertaken a VU MBA, sees many similarities between the support team at the Western Bulldogs and the support team at VU Online.

“In the AFL world, you need the support of your coach, your assistant coaches and the physios to be successful,” explains Wallis.

“Without the online facilitator, the course coordinator, and my wife, who’s definitely a support network at home, you can’t be successful either. You need help along the way to reach your objectives.”

Throughout your MBA with VU Online, you’ll have one-to-one access to your online facilitator seven days a week, including evenings.

Your unit coordinator will present fortnightly teaching seminars and be available every week. You’ll also have weekday contact with a student success advisor and the broader VU Online network.

Career-based teaching and learning

You may have noticed that there are no exams or textbooks in the business world and that’s precisely why you won’t find them at VU Online.

We’ve designed our MBA from the ground up with a career-centred approach that develops practical leadership and management skills.

To develop a deep understanding of effective management strategies, you’ll be encouraged to share examples from your own background and hear the experiences of other professionals in creative and collaborative sessions.

Contemporary case studies will be used to put your decision-making skills to the test with innovative and strategic thinking.

One of the most important learning outcomes will be the ability to communicate effectively with any audience—specialist, non-specialist, culturally diverse and more.

This is learning by doing—just like in the real world.

Award-winning online postgraduate Block Model

One of the greatest challenges to continuous professional development is synchronising rigid study requirements into our hectic and unpredictable lives.

VU Online developed a better way to study with our award-winning Block Model. It’s a bit like moving the goalposts to give you a more significant advantage—maybe that’s why Wallis is a fan.

“This course was really appealing to me because I’m able to study when it suits me—because I do have a lot of weekly commitments,” admits Wallis.

Your study year will comprise six units of study, and you’ll only study one unit at a time.

With the online postgraduate block model, MBA students can join the course six different times across the year to start their studies.

Career opportunities available to those who study an MBA

While MBAs offer the benefits outlined above, you should consider whether pursuing an MBA is worth it for you and your career aspirations.

According to the employment website Seek.com, an MBA is a key step in becoming a general manager, chief operating officer, chief financial officer, managing director, CEO and director. It’s also worth noting that the most common salary for most of those roles is north of $200,000.

An MBA can offer career acceleration and open doors to entrepreneurship, leadership and management roles in areas you may not have considered before.

It’s that sort of opportunity for a career change that excites Wallis in his path from a Graduate Certificate in Business Administration to an MBA.

“I have a really clear path that I’m on,” he says. “With my support network of my wife, family, friends and the study that I’m doing at VU, I’m very confident that I’m going to end up being really successful and really happy in life.”

An MBA: An investment in your career trajectory

Whether you’re looking to change careers, progress your career or broaden your horizons at work in other meaningful ways, an MBA is a worthwhile investment.

An MBA will deepen your understanding of what matters to businesses, both big and small, and give you new perspectives on important trends. This is particularly important in the age of disruption.

With VU Online, you’ll study a globally ranked Tier 1 MBA, accessing a curriculum designed with industry experts. You will learn how to master strategic management, analytical and financial skills, business consulting, ethical business frameworks and more.

Make an investment in yourself with an MBA at VU Online today.